Assistive Technologies and Autism Spectrum Disorders

This chapter discusses assistive technologies applied in people with autism spectrum disorders and how these technologies promote their adaptation. We analyzed different technological application areas such as detection, assessment, diagnosis, intervention, training, learning, environment control, communication, mobility, and access. In recent years there has been a notable increase of publications and works related to the use of assistive technologies applied to Autism Spectrum Disorders. While most of the publications present novel systems, devices, and applications (smartphones, tablets, robots, avatars, etc.), general evaluation of the results is insufficient. Future lines of research are targeted to realize intelligent environments in order to integrate all knowledge and technological developments made in recent years.

Functional Assessment of Persons with Motor Limitations

In this chapter a referral is made to the most known examination methods and tools for evaluating persons with motor limitations. Since there are many methods and tools, standardized or not, describing each of them by the area of evaluation and forming a quick reference guide seem to be helpful. Furthermore referrals are made to some special evaluation forms regarding special conditions, like stoke, which appear to have multiple problems influencing function. Finally, in the last section of this chapter a referral is made to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health scale (ICF), which has been developed the past few years by the World Health Organization (WHO), in an effort to have and apply a universal way of assessing people with disabilities. This scale aims to give to all the health professional and researchers a “common language” when “measuring” disability and function.

A Formal Representation System for Modelling Assistive Technology Systems

This chapter describes a formal representation scheme which can be used to model Assistive Technology (AT) Systems. At the heart of any system is a conceptual model of domain of application. Where AT is involved, the conceptual model must embrace all the elements of AT systems which are defined as “consisting of an AT device, a human operator who has a disability and an environment in which the functional activity is to be carried out” (Cook and Hussey, 1995, 2002, 2007). In order to explore the interaction between the components of AT systems in dynamic simulations of AT deployment, there is a need for a suitable representation of the underlying concepts. While the representation scheme presented here is generally applicable, examples and issues to do with representing AT systems for those with motor limitations, in particular are considered. The proposed representation scheme uses Coloured Petri-Nets (CP-Nets) and is based on the WHO International Classification of Functioning (ICF). This chapter looks at how CP-Nets may be used to represent the elements of AT systems as described by Cook and Hussey. These are Person, Activity, AT and Context. Both informal and formal representations using CP-Nets are considered. The ICF is at the heart of the proposed formal representation scheme. Its effectiveness for this purpose is analysed. Enhancements and innovative approaches are offered where there are challenges presented in using the ICF.

An Affective Computer-Mediated Learning for Persons with Motor Impairments

In education, it is important to have good communication and interaction between educators and learners to promote a conducive learning environment. However, this is rather difficult for the children with motor impairments, such as children with Cerebral Palsy and Autism. Their learning problems arise due to their motor impairment coupled with speech and intellectual impairments. As a result, children with motor disabilities require more time and attention in learning. To assist the children’s learning, this chapter proposes an affective computer-mediated learning model which adapts to learners’ emotions where it has an educator representation (i.e. a virtual tutor) to deliver the learning materials and interact with a child in one-to-one learning. The virtual tutor communicates with the child by responding to his/her facial expressions. Post-intervention experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of the affective computer-mediated learning model. The overall results showed that the proposed affective learning model is able to assist the children’s learning.

Pathway to Independence

Robotic technologies can provide people with disabilities the invaluable tools to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Few studies have investigated how effective and accessible the control of robotic aids is for people with severe physical disabilities with respect to their needs and current facility with technology. Though present-day robotic aids can help people with disabilities with important daily living tasks, there is still room for improvement. In this chapter, an overview of the state-of-the-art robotics that help promote independence for people with disabilities, especially individuals with physical limitations, is presented. Active research areas supporting tasks and services for persons with physical disabilities include development of robotic prototypes, designed specifically for domestic applications, rehabilitation, mobility assistance, personal hygiene care and meal assistance, and education and employment. Existing challenges and recommendations to support and increase independence for persons with motor limitations with robotics technologies are provided as insight to advance research.

Camera-Based Motion Tracking and Performing Arts for Persons with Motor Disabilities and Autism

The aim of this chapter is to discuss a range of computer applications designed to enable people with disabilities to interact through music, dance, and the visual arts. A review of the main motion tracking algorithms and software environments is included as well as an overview of theoretical positions regarding the mapping of real time extracted motion features to sound, interactive music, and computer-generated or modified visual content. The chapter concludes with descriptions of how the concepts have been applied to research projects undertaken with different groups of young people with motor limitations and autism spectrum disorders.

Web Accessibility for Persons with Motor Limitations

Nowadays the internet is an important medium for serving people. Using the internet can help people completing several tasks and accessing different types of information (e.g., reading news, finding location for places, buying and selling products online, and so on). Accessing the internet is not an easy task for people with motor disabilities. The main barriers come from two issues: difficulty or inability in using the mouse and difficulty or inability on typing on the keyboard. The web accessibility guidelines are a set of suggested techniques to be used by web developers when designing, implementing, and maintaining websites to make them easy to access by people with disabilities. This chapter presents the importance of applying web accessibility standards and guidelines when designing and developing web pages. These guidelines are obtained from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG), section 508, and other literature. The challenges and barriers encountered by people with motor disabilities when they use the web are presented. Then, different techniques that can be used by web developers to ensure the accessibility of websites for people with motor disabilities are introduced. At the end a discussion on evaluating and testing the website conformance to the web accessibility standards and guidelines is presented. Several evaluation techniques that can be used for web accessibility evaluation is introduced and explained to clarify the process of web accessibility testing.

Ambient Assisted Living for People with Motor Impairments

The field of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) has shown great potential in counteracting some of the effects of the worldwide population ageing phenomenon. Its main goal is to promote a safe, healthy, and functional living environment for the elderly and people with disabilities who wish to live independently in their home. To achieve this goal, AAL environments utilize Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the emerging Ambient Intelligence (AmI) paradigm in order to provide sophisticated solutions that can support the needs of an elderly person or a person with disabilities, at home. This chapter will present examples of AAL environments found in research and academic literature and the solutions they offer to cater for the basic needs of people with motor impairments in order to support their independent living and quality of life. The challenges of using such technologies will also be discussed.

Indoor Navigation and Location-Based Services for Persons with Motor Limitations

Persons with motor limitations constitute a group-challenge when building indoor navigation and Location-Based Services (LBS). The authors present here the systematic approach they have developed that has to be taken into account in the user needs analysis of persons with motor disabilities when an advanced system for indoor navigation and LBS is designed. In the first part the authors present a step-by-step and detailed methodology about the extraction of the user requirements’ knowledge in order to develop an indoor navigation and LBS system that provides adequate and usable output to persons with motor limitations. In the second part, after an overview of the existing indoor LBS, the authors present the development of the MNISIKLIS system giving emphasis on the User Interface designed after following the knowledge derived from the first part.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems for the Motor Disabled

This chapter discusses Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for individuals with motor disabilities. Motor disabilities do not only affect movement, but very often also affect speech. In these cases where voice is very weak, speech is unintelligible, or motor problems in the human speech production systems do not allow a person to speak, AAC is introduced. Aided and unaided communication is explained, and low and high tech AAC examples are illustrated. The ITHACA framework for building AAC applications is used as a paradigm in order to highlight the AAC software lifecycle. The same framework is also used to highlight AAC software design issues concerning component-based development (the open source model and the Design for All principles). Key features of an AAC application like virtual keyboards, scanning techniques, symbol dashboards, symbolic communication systems, message editors, symbol translation, word prediction, text to speech, and remote communication are presented. Finally, practical hints for choosing an AAC system are given and a case study of informally evaluating it is cited.